Friday, March 22, 2013

5.5" x 7.5" original watercolor on Yupo paper, matted to 8" x 10"
Signed and Certified by the artistSee purchase information here.

I've been listening to Leslie Saeta's Artists Helping Artists radio shows while I paint. I listened to yesterday's show today. I was so fascinated and impressed with Carolyn Anderson's interview that I had to play it twice. What an amazingly accomplished and articulate artist she is! I was very impressed with her philosophy of art as well as with her fabulous interpretative oil paintings. I love what she writes in "Thoughts About Painting" ~ "Realist painting comes with its own set of parameters and craft can certainly be one of them. But I have yet to agree that craft alone will make a great painting. Craft without creativity is only part of the equation. When we make judgments about what is acceptable, or not, what is good, or not, and what “realism” is, or is not, we end up narrowing the possibilities of what our paintings can be. Painting is about learning to see - and hopefully, sharing how we see and what is visually important to us with others. We share a responsibility to interpret, not to try and re-create. We need to be open to the adventure of exploring, visual information. If we accept that what we paint can never be “real”, then we should be able to take our “reality” and see it in new and interesting ways." W O W! I would really love to take a workshop with this lady!

Well folks, spring fever is upon us! It's a time of rebirth and awakening that influences us whether we realize it or not. Don't you find that the longer, warmer days tend to renew your passions? Doesn't this season seem to interject more energy into your life? Do you find enthusiasm for new projects, inside and out? Am I alone in feeling that springtime produces a kind of kick in the pants, jump start or jolt effect? For me, it's almost a kind of urgency. For what, I'm not really sure. Maybe you have some ideas and could help me out by sharing your feelings about springtime here.

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"~ Mark Twain

Friday, March 15, 2013

I've been very distracted from painting this past week. Last Friday afternoon, without any warning, my dear husband, Jerry, unexpectedly lost the sight of his right eye. He was just finishing up a job at the Borgata Casino Health Club in Atlantic City when his right eye went totally black / blind. He drove home, then I took him to the Hospital. His blood pressure was sky high and they thought he may have had a mini stroke. He never had high blood pressure before. After extensive testing, they still didn't know what was going on, so they took him to Will's Eye Hospital in Philadelphia for more tests. Basically, what they said was, Jerry had a stroke of the eye. We were at Wills Eye Hospital Retina Center all day on Monday for more tests. The doctors at Wills were very discouraging and said the loss of sight would most likely be permanent. I refuse to believe it though. On Friday, when it happened, the eye was totally black and each day, Jerry is starting to see more. Today he said he 'sorta sees' colors, so I believe that the doctor was wrong and he can recover his sight. Now our main cercern is getting his blood pressure under control so it doesn't blow out the other eye.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Spring is in the air and we turn the clocks ahead this Sunday! Yahoo!! To celebrate and spread the joy, in addition to a couple of giveaways, I'm also having a 30% offMarch Madness Sale on selected one of a kind, mini paintings! Here are the first two adorable hummingbirds I'm offering at this special price.

This offer is only good until the end of the month, so snatch them up while you can, my friends. What great gifts these would make for Easter, Mother's Day, weddings, anniversaries, graduations and birthdays! These original paintings would look precious framed or sitting on a little display easel!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

I've learned the hard way, that sometimes there's a reason that I'm not getting the results I am seeking when my painting looks like crap is not so successful.

A less than ideal working palette is a definite hinderance. Especially when it is as disgustingly crusty, globbed up, dry and dirty as mine was.

Case in point.UGH!

When using a covered palette with tube watercolors,

if you don't let it get this bad, fresh pigment can be added to the semi-hardened paint. Then the two consistencies can be stirred together with a smidgen of water to reconstitute it.

However, I have been neglecting my palette for months and there was not much I could salvage!

I had to scrape out the old stuff that was inundated with hard globs, brush hairs and dirt. Then scrub the crust from the wells and start with fresh squeezed pigment.

I used a butter knife, bristle brush, water and lots

of paper towels to accomplish the job.

When I finally got all the wells clean, I squeezed out new pigment using my Tube-Wringerwhich helps you get every possible drop out of the tube. As you probably already know, if you are still reading this, pigments can get expensive.

It's a real money saver and a big thumbs up from me.

Ah, now doesn't that look totally inviting?

Palette Colorsfrom top left clockwise.....

Cobalt Blue- Nice medium blue - has white in it

Cobalt Violet- Nice non-staining violet - has white in it

*Cadmium Red*Alizarin Crimson

*Ivory Black

*Burnt Sienna*Yellow Ochre

*Naples Yellow- love this color, use it often

*Titanium White- just started using this with my Yupos

*Lemon Yellow*Gamboge- nice bright color - instead of Cadmium Yellow

*Olive Green- Lukas - love this - color varies by maker

Hooker's Green Dark

Phthalo Green

*Turquoise- American Journey or DaVinci- love this!

Turquoise- Lukas - color varies by maker

*Phthalo Blue

*Ultramarine Blue

*Colors most used

(*Update - 2017 - See the small limited palette I am currently using here.)

The supplies shown above are my current choice for a thorough cleaning and a total palette makeover.They are a paint tube wringer, bristle brush, butter knife, water and pliers (to pry off caps and squeeze the very last splotch of paint from tube). You will also need plenty of paper towels, water and a spray bottle.

My palette is a covered Robert E. Wood. When not painting for a couple of days, I uncover, spritz the paint with water, let it breathe for a while, respritz then recover.

Pigments

My color choices have changed recently due to working on Yupo paper. I am now using more pigments with white in them as they seem to bind to the synthetic paper better.

I prefer DaVinci and Utrecht brand tube watercolors for their consistency, quality and price but I have also used Windsor and Newton, American Journey and Lukas.See some tips on working on Yupo paper here.

Brushes

The idea in my approach is to use the biggest brush you can and still get the job done. The bristle fan brush is occasionally used for texture and spattering. For my rounds, I use a lower quality synthetic brush that comes to a good point, but doesn't lose it's hairs.

The Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds have been reported to be arriving in their summer breeding grounds about two weeks earlier this year. I looked online at the hummingbird migration map and a few early travelers have already been spotted down in Florida and in other states around the Gulf of Mexico. I will keep you updated on their progress. Do you look forward to their arrival too? When do you usually see your first hummingbird?

Friday, March 1, 2013

Yupo (pronounced You-po), paper is a recyclable, tree-free, synthetic paper which does not absorb water, so the transparent watercolor pigments sit on top of the surface. It is tricky to work on but very forgiving. It can be scrubbed back to the clean surface at any time prior to fixing it with a clear acrylic spray. YAHOO FOR YUPO!

One of the reasons we have so many hummingbirds here at The Sandarosa, is because we also have a healthy colony of Coopers Hawks. The hummingbirds build their nests close to Ms. Cooper's Clan. Too small to be of any interest to a hawk, the crows and other hummingbird predators stay clear or else. It's a very symbiotic relationship.

On the home front, the kittens, Opie and Cutie Pye, are now 10 months old! How time flies when they are little! Opie weighs about 8 lbs. now and looks as large as 15 lb.,Tigger because of all his hair. The boys like to sleep in the little wicker basket. And the petite Ms.Cutie Pye, at only 6lbs.2 oz., prefers the large dog bed. Go figure! ☺

Who is Sandy Sandy?

Hi! I'm a singular artist with a double name. Loving nature and all animals, I strive to portray the essence and spirit of my subjects in my art - aka, my online identity, Sandy Sandy Spiritartist. I hope you'll stay a while and leave me some comments so we can get to know each other.